Draft gears for railway draft rigging



April 7, 1959 H. WQMULCAHY DRAFT GEARS FOR RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING :5Shets-Sheet 1 Filed April 4, 1955 InVewy/orr flu/Tr WmvZcaJz April 7,1959 H. w, MULCAHY 2,880,886

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2,880,886 DRAFT GEARS FOR RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING Harry W. Mulcahy,Chicago, 11]., assignor to W. H. Miner, Inc., Chicago, 111., acorporation of Delaware Application April 4, 1955, Serial No. 498,907 v6 Claims. 01. 213-45 This invention relates to draft gears for railway"draft rigging.

It is a main object of the invention to provide an 1mproved device formaintaining a resilient column and operating plunger therefor in thecasing of a unitary draft gear.

Another object of the invention is to provide a draft gear casing closedat one end and in which is disposed a resilient column and an operatingplunger therefor, together with locking bars carried by the plunger andengaging flanges on the casing to secure the gear together as a unit.

Further objects of the invention not specifically mentioned here will beapparent from the detailed description and claims which follow,reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which apreferredembodiment of the invention is shown by way of example and in which:

Figure 1 is a cross sectional view through the horizontal median planeof the gear, with the rubber pads therein shown in full lines;

Figure 2 is a front end elevational view of the gear with locking barsomitted;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2, with the locking bars inposition;

Figure 4 is a plan view of the plunger;

Figure 5 is an end elevational view of the locking bar;

Figure 6 is a side elevational view of a locking bar;

Figure 7 is a plan view of a locking bar; and

Figure 8 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken substantially alongthe line 8--8 of Figure 3, looking in the direction of the arrows.

From the drawings it will be seen that the gear of the present inventionconsists of a casing A, plunger B, a resilient column comprising aplurality of units C, integral aligning followers D; and a pair oflocking bars E for securing the gear together as a unit.

The casing A, which is of rectangular cross section, comprises top andbottom walls 10 and 11 respectively, and side walls 12 and 13 connectingthe top and bottom walls together. These Walls are relatively thin. Anintegral rear wall 14, which is appreciably thicker than the top, bottomand side walls, closes the rear end of the casing.

Located at each of the four corners of the open end of the casing is alocking flange 15 that projects inwardly of the casing and extendssubstantially diagonally across the corner.

The plunger B consists of a rectangular base 20, having flangelikebosses 21 at its top and bottom sides, which bosses 21 merge withupwardly extending (to the left in Figure 4) smaller lugs 22. At theends of the rectangular base portion are bosses 23 which correspond inheight to bosses 21. It will be noted from Figure 2 that bosses 21 and23 are of such outward dimension as to fit within the walls of thecasing, and noted further that these bosses 21 and 23 are cut away atthe corners of the base to clear the flanges 15 on the casing. The

United States Patent "ice plunger also includes a forwardly extendingportion 24 that projects outwardly of the casing when the plunger is inplace therein.

Each of the resilient units consists of a rubber pad 30 bonded betweenthe platelike portion 31 of a follower D and a second plate 32-.Followers D contain top and bottom flanges 33, which extend forwardlyfrom the plate portion 31 alongside the plate 32 and rubber pad 30 ofthe adjacent unit C. Side flanges 34 are similarly disposed. Flanges 33and 34 engage the walls 10, 11, 12, and 13 of the casing A. It will benoted that ;the flanges 33 and 34 do not extend to the corners of thefollowers D,

thereby enabling the followers to clear the flanges y 15 ;upon thecasing during assembly therein. 3 15 The locking bars E, which are twoin number, are -of generally C-shape configuration and comprise acentral section 40 adapted-to lay over the endbosses 23"on' the plungerbase 20, depressed corner sections 41 adapted to fit under the flanges15 on the casing, and end sections 42 adapted to fit over the bosses 21and abut against the smaller lugs 22 on the top and bottom of theplunger base 20.

In assembling the gear, the casing is disposed open end up and theresilient column members C and followers D are inserted therein. Frontfollower 35 is of such dimension that its flanges 36 form a press fitwith the outer surfaces of bosses 21 and 23 on the plunger base 20.Pressure is applied to the column to force the plunger inwardly of thecasing and locking bars E are then inserted in place and secured to theplunger in convenient manner as by spot welding. Pressure is thenrelieved from the plunger and the resilient column C expands untilportions 41 of the locking bars engage flanges 15 on the casing, thisengagement arresting outward movement of the plunger and securing thegear together as a unit.

The unit thus formed is adapted to fit in the yoke and pocket of arailway draft rigging, and in order to shorten the overall length of theunit so as to permit its insertion in the yoke and pocket, temporaryblocks 45 may be inserted between the flanges 15 and locking bar portion41 prior to release of pressure from the plunger. These blocks, whichmay conveniently be composed of wood or soft metal, will disintegrateand fall out during normal operation of the gear in service.

Having thus complied with the statutes and shown and described thepreferred embodiment of my invention, what I consider new and desire tohave protected by Letters Patent is pointed out in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a draft gear for railway draft rigging, a metallic casing ofrectangular cross section closed at its rear end and open at its frontend; a flange at each corner of the casing extending inwardly at theopen end thereof; a resilient column within the casing; a plungerprojecting forwardly from the open end of the casing; a rectangular baseon said plunger having diagonal corners, said base fitting in saidcasing for sliding movement therein against said resilient column; and apair of locking bars fixed upon the plunger base and extending behindsaid flanges to hold the gear together as a unit.

2. A gear as specified in claim 1, in which the rectangular base of theplunger includes flangelike portions projecting forwardly from the innerface of the base, which portions extend across the shorter sides of thebase and part-way across the longer sides of the base and areinterrupted at the corners of the base.

3. A gear as specified in claim 2, in which the locking bars aredisposed forwardly of the flangelike portions of the plunger base andrearwardly of the flanges at the corners of the casing.

4. A gear as claimed in claim 3, in which the locking bars are fixedupon the plunger base by welding.

5. In 'a. draft gear for railway draft rigging, a metallic casing ofrectangular "cross section closed at its rear end and open at its frontend; a flange at each corner of the casing extending inwardly at theopen end thereof; a resilient column within the casing; a plungerprojecting forwardly from the open end of the casing; a rectangular baseon said plunge-r having diagonal corners, said base fitting in saidcasing for sliding movement therein against said resilient column; and apair of locking bars fixed upon the plunger base and extending behindsaid flanges to holdthe gear together as a unit, each locking barconsitting of an elongated central section having ends merging intoretaining portions which are generally U-shaped and partly extend in thesame plane as the central section and also extend transversely to saidplane, said U-shaped merging into straight terminal sections extendingtrly of said plane, whereby the U-shaped reportions are adapted to lieto the rear of and fernbrace the casing corner flanges whereas thecentral semantic! the terminal sections lie adjacent to the edges ofeasing walls at the open end of said casing.

6. In a draft gear for railway draft rigging, a metallic casing ofrectangular cross section closed at the rear end and open at the frontend; a flange at each corner of the casing extending inwardly at theopen end thereof; a resilient column Within said casing composed of aplui'ality of units; stabilizer followers in said column, eachcomprising a rigid platelike portion to one face of which a unit isbonded and rigid flanges on the four sides of the platelike portionengaging the walls of the casing to stabilize the column; a plungerprojecting from the front end of the casing; a rectangular base on saidplunger, the flanges on the front one of said followers having press fitwith the base of the plunger to secure the plunger to the follower; anda pair of locking bars fixed upon the plunger base and extending behindsaid corner flanges on the casing to hold the gear together as a unit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,391,618 Dath Dec. 25., 1945 2,486,741 Gabriel Nov. 1, 1949 2,598,762Dath June 3, 1952 2,713,485 Tillou July 19 195

